selling you copyrighted beats?

ok so i am definatly going to copyright my shit so they're not stolen during demos but what about when i sell the beat? is the copyright still mine? b/c i don't mind selling my beats but i do want to be sure that when one sells i will be able to collect my royalties. how do you right royalties into a contract or at least make sure that you get the royalties you deserve? i don't want to sign over full rights to any of my shit unless its bringin big bucks, 6-fig bucks. any advice is greatly appreciated.

peace,
cam
www.hydroponicgreenthumb.com

cameron wrote:ok so i am definatly going to copyright my **** so they're not stolen during demos but what about when i sell the beat? is the copyright still mine? b/c i don't mind selling my beats but i do want to be sure that when one sells i will be able to collect my royalties. how do you right royalties into a contract or at least make sure that you get the royalties you deserve? i don't want to sign over full rights to any of my **** unless its bringin big bucks, 6-fig bucks. any advice is greatly appreciated.

peace,
cam
www.hydroponicgreenthumb.com

damn 6 figs!!! WOW I don't think you'll be getting that much yet!! But when you fill out the copyright form just make sure your name and what you contributed to the song (ie. music) is filled in CORRECTly. By that I mean in the right spaces. People mess that up ALL the time. So make sure you read the instruction page that comes with the PA form. Royalties: you have to affiliate yourself with one of the offices (BMI, ASCAP etc..) You can goto their websites to get an application. IT'S FREE to become a member. Thats how you would get royalties from the copyright form. But thats only if your song is getting bigtime play (radio, tv, shows) but sometimes you may have to report where the song is being played, unless you sell a tracks to a label, which they have their own dept. for that. Also get your own publishing company. People don't know that, that is the BEST way to make money, unless you sampled some sh!t that you have to clear where you'll get NOTHING. But if someone wants to give you 5 thousand for a beat for the rights and all. Sh!t take it, because the thing about being a producer is getting your name up. The more projects your on the better it is for you. See don't get caught up in that (I don't want to give up the beat unless it's for 100,00o sh!t) because people will look right past you to the NEXT producer.

Peace, Doc Martin

docmartin120 wrote:Also get your own publishing company. People don't know that, that is the BEST way to make money, unless you sampled some sh!t that you have to clear where you'll get NOTHING.

can you elaborate on that part ?

thanks a lot

Having your Own Publishing Company:

Songwriters and producers get financing for their music publishing companies by signing a co-venture deal with a major publisher.

The value of having your own publishing company is let's say you do a beat that artist A wants. He'll (their representation) contact your manager to set a price, your manager will then sit down with you a discuss a price. Once a price is agreed upon (artist A company and yourself) artist A company will then send a contract to your lawyer. Your lawyer then looks it over and sits down with you (to see if there are changes needed or not). When you send in your copyrights make sure you fill-in your publishing info on the PA form(you can get publishing through BMI ASCAP etc also). (do this before the contract is drawn up) Artist A company will get most of the publishing but you will have points also.

In short if you have your own publishing company when you get the copyrights for your cut (beat or song). You will be intitled to a percentage of the net gain on the cut. (more points) Which will result in more money paid to your company. The reason you want to do this through the company is so if let's say you get a $50,000 advance to your publishing you won't take that big of a hit with the IRS(Taxes) because it's a trickle down effect (you pay yourself and lawyer, manager fees etc..).

But like I said before thou, if you have to clear a sample more than not you won't get much if any publishing rights so you'll be squeezed out.

its not like that exactly, i don't have to get 6figs to sell a beat. its just that i don't want to go and sell a beat for $500 then the next thing ya know its a smash hit and someone else is making all my money because i sold it to them. im just trying to figure out how to retain the points i deserve if one or more of my productions does make it big. and do you recommend any literature for starting your own publishing co. sounds like there might be quite a bit to that, do you need to be incorporated? do you recommend one over the other BMI vs. ASCAP? thanks agian

peace,
cam
www.hydroponicgreenthumb.com

cameron wrote:its not like that exactly, i don't have to get 6figs to sell a beat. its just that i don't want to go and sell a beat for $500 then the next thing ya know its a smash hit and someone else is making all my money because i sold it to them. im just trying to figure out how to retain the points i deserve if one or more of my productions does make it big. and do you recommend any literature for starting your own publishing co. sounds like there might be quite a bit to that, do you need to be incorporated? do you recommend one over the other BMI vs. ASCAP? thanks agian

peace,
cam
www.hydroponicgreenthumb.com

Yeah it gets pretty deep!!! But when you start out sometimes you have to take chances and 9 times out of 10 it wouldn't be a mega hit. So take the chance, and even if you don't get the money your name will still be on it as the producer. And thats "money in the bank"!!! So the next time you can set the price YOU want.

BMI / writer (FREE) publishing ($250? not sure it's been awhile since I registered)

ASCAP / writer (FREE) publishing (FREE, may have a fee now I don't know)

Here are some references:

www.mpa.org (excellent, they can definitely help you)
www.taxi.com (their pretty good)

thanks man

so 1st i need to copyright my shit thru copyright.gov and then i publish it thru ASCAP. i'm kind of confused about the publishing part. when you say publishe does that mean mass produce/pressing or is that just the final step in claiming a production as your own? sorry for my noviceness, but you gotta start somewhere right? so far these forums have been very helpful and informative. preciate it.

peace,
cam
www.hydroponicgreenthumb.com

cameron wrote:so 1st i need to copyright my **** thru copyright.gov and then i publish it thru ASCAP. i'm kind of confused about the publishing part. when you say publishe does that mean mass produce/pressing or is that just the final step in claiming a production as your own? sorry for my noviceness, but you gotta start somewhere right? so far these forums have been very helpful and informative. preciate it.

peace,
cam
www.hydroponicgreenthumb.com

You need to FIRST become affiliated (member)with one of the royalty companies (BMI, ASCAP etc..) and register a publishing company in whatever name you come up with. Once you have ALL of your paperwork finish (they've returned your forms stamped) THEN you are ready to fill out your copyright forms. Fill-in all information, there's sections for writers and publishers on the PA form. Submit your work with the forms to the copyright office. NOW your ready to deal with selling those tracks. BUT you need a lawyer and manager (VERY IMPORTANT) to represent you. GOOD LUCK!!!

thanx doc for all these infos !

ok so when i am registering a publishing co. in whatever name i choose, who am i doing that thru. are you saying that i register that thru ie ASCAP or is it more like i have to start a business(publishing co.)? thanks again for all your info. are these the steps
1) become affilaiated with ASCAP
2) register a publishing co thru ACSP
3) then fill in forms and send to copyright office

so your saying that i have to register the publishing co so that the copyright people will acknoledge my efforts? or is that still not right?

peace,
cam

You got it!!! The publishing on any song is worth more alot of times then the copyright.

awesome! thanks a million.

peace,
cam
www.hydroponicgreenthumb.com

I got a question, if an artist I am working with says he is going to send in the PA forms and put me on as a work for hire, will I still be entitled to any publishing or should I try and send them in on my own first with an SR form?

What type of track is it?

SR description: Make sure your work is a sound recording. Sound recordings are “works that result from the fixation of a series of musical, spoken, or other sounds, but not including the sounds accompanying a motion picture or other audiovisual work.” Common examples include recordings of music, drama, or lectures... Make sure!!

Work for hire? Are they putting you on the track as a musician?

Work for hire means they will have COMPLETE control of the track. They paid for your services to the track. If you think you did more you should be listed as a WRITER.